Drug suspect shot dead in gunfight with Nan police
Nan police shot dead a suspect in a gunfight as he attempted to retrieve buried drugs late on Friday night.
Police said local resident Kwanchai Upala, 24, was killed while allegedly resisting arrest beside a road in Ban Nong Bua village in Tambon Si Sa Ket in Nan’s Na Noi district at 11.30pm.
Acting on a tip-off that the suspect would pick up hidden drugs, police staked out at the spot until Kwanchai arrived on a motorcycle.
After Kwanchai dug up a bag near some roadside banana trees, police came out of hiding to arrest him. Police said the suspect opened fire at them with a sawed-off shotgun, and so officers returned fire and killed him.
Police found 32,000 methamphetamine pills in the bag. The body was sent for an autopsy at the district hospital.
